About Rachel

Rachel Morell is an art director, photographer, and screenprinter based in Newberg, Oregon. Her whimsical and colorful styling, along with her sense of delight has transformed Fawn & Feather into a recognizable photo booth brand.

Her journey has included teaching, military school, flower shops, math, Mexico, and art school. She enjoys a good ol' spin on the bike to the DQ in the summer and straps on a pair of snow shoes in the winter. Sometimes she just sits on the couch. With her hilarious and kind husband beside her, they are changing the world one day at a time.

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Happy almost Halloween! Because Halloween falls on a Wednesday this year, I’m sure that many of you have already dressed up and attended your various Halloween festivities. How’d your costume turn out? I’d love to see your creativity so email me some pictures!

Over in our neck of the woods, we’ll be attending several events including one that we affectionately call the “Holy Ghost Weiner Roast.” For as organized as I tend to be, I NEVER know what I’m going to be until pretty much two or three days beforehand. So, I just decided yesterday that I’m going to be Effie Trinket from the Hunger Games. And I’m PUMPED! If you don’t know who or what I’m talking about, you should:

a. READ THE BOOKS!!!! OMG! (sorry for yelling)

or

b. see my inspiration below.

She’s over the top and I love it. I’m going to be the Effie on the left.

Check out these awesome variations of Effie that people have tried! They all look so different but still so her.

As for my husband…well, he likes to be culturally relevant when he dresses up. One year he was the Swine Flu. Another year he was a Chilean Miner. This year, he’s chosen to be the Korean YouTube phenomenon, Psy. And wouldn’t you know…we already have that blue jacket. It’s gonna be great. Check out his music video below if you haven’t already seen it. Soooo ridiculous, but that’s why we love it.

So I’m prepping to be part of a Holiday Bazaar at our local Whole Foods in a few weeks and I’ve so been enjoying making some Fawn & Feather inspired prezzies. Amongst other things, I’ll be selling photos like the one below. I’m still working on a couple more. Come see Fawn & Feather at the Bridgeport Whole Foods on November 10 from 10 am-4 pm. There will be a variety of vendors there like my friend Tami, of Feltology. I’ll be sharing more things with you as I get them made. Until then, it’s off to the sewing machine and a pile of fake fur. Man, does that stuff get up my nose.

Halloween is almost upon us and every year I get asked what I’m going to be and/or what is my favorite costume? And while I still don’t have a clue what I’m going to dress up as in 15 days, I can tell you that my deer costume was a big hit 3 years ago. And when I say deer “costume,” I mean deer makeup. I’m super glad that I figured this out because I was then able to use this look on Sadie for the Woodland Creature shoot a few months later. This image of Sadie has been repinned and liked on Pinterest over 80 times. People can’t get enough of it! And that’s why I want to share the steps of how to execute this look with you.

Here are the makeup supplies that you’ll be needing. I don’t use anything fancy or expensive. The only unusual items are the cream makeup and eyelashes, but as it’s Halloween in almost every store you go into, they are an easy find everywhere. Mine are from Fred Meyer.

Step #1:

Starting with a clean face, use the large brush to powder on the crushed, brown eyeshadow. Make sure you go all the way up to your hairline but avoid your eyes (you’ll be painting white on later) and don’t go below you cheeks. Don’t be discouraged at this point, because trust me…you’ll feel like a chimney sweep. It gets better.

Step #2:

Using a Q-tip, paint white oval teardrops around your eye. I paint up to my eyebrown and a little bit along the bridge of my nose. The shape sort of ends up looking like a comic book speech bubble. I apply the paint with a Q-tip but blend it with the foam makeup applicator. You might need to let a layer dry a little bit and then apply a second layer, but be careful because I found that the more I messed with it, the more it would come off.

Step #3:

Using the small brush and a brown eyeshadow, fill in your eyebrows. Continue that shape down the bridge of your nose a bit, but don’t go beyond the white. I also continue the line of my eyebrow around the outer edge and end right about parallel to my bottom lid. Somehow, it’s this dark, almost-full circle that really makes you look like an animal.

Step #4:

I use the same shadow as above to line my eyes a little bit on the top and bottom in addition to adding a little bit of mascara. Mostly to cover up any shadow or paint that I’ve gotten on my lashes. Then I apply the fake eyelashes. THIS IT THE PART THAT REALLY MAKES YOUR LOOK POP! I’m not an expert by any means on how to put on eyelashes, so if you have a better way, go for it. I’m sure Youtube is helpful. I use a toothpick to spread the glue on the lashes as I hold them in tweezers. I let it dry for about 20 seconds, so that it’s tacky and then I start on the outer edge of my top lashes. Keep your fake eyelashes as close to your natural lashes as possible, or you’ll have a flesh colored line that isn’t pretty. This step is tedious if you’re not good, so having a friend help might be a good idea. Just be careful not to rub off any of your other makeup.

Step #5:

Using the black and white cream makeup, paint your deer nose. I paint the skin around my nostrils black (and even inside just a little bit) and then paint a white stripe along the top. To get the white spots, you can either use a Q-tip or the tip of your finger. Paint however many you want, but don’t go below your nose. I tried to get the white dots to match the white of my eyes, otherwise the dots look really bright white in comparison. Try to stay consistent.

Step #6:

You’re done with the makeup part! You can add lip color if you want.

Step #7:

As far as your actual costume goes, it doesn’t really matter what you wear because your face says it all. I wore a fur vest the year I dressed up. Sadie wore plaid, a sweater, and suspenders. I like to think of my animal characters as actual animals who sort of don’t know how to dress. They generally end up wearing mismatched, eclectic, textured, and layered clothes. Whatever suits your fancy. I really lucked out to find these Burger King toy antlers at a thrift store. For Sadie, I actually attached a real set of antlers to her head. It wasn’t easy, but if you can find a set, go for it! I’ve also seen tutorials on how to make clay antlers, twig antlers and people who sell them on Etsy. Figure this part out now, because you only have 2 weeks until Halloween!

P.S. I recognize the irony of wearing grown up deer antlers with baby deer spots. Oh well! Irony is cool, right? I suppose that you could leave off the spots and look like a really beautiful lady deer.

Who’s going to be a deer this Halloween? I’d love to see how your costume turns out! Feel free to email me pictures or send questions my way.

My best advice to you now, is to practice at least once. There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to figure this out 30 minutes before you head to a sweet Halloween party.

madison -i saw the pintrest photo and have been trying to hunt down a tutorial for this for weeks now. so glad i found it!! im actually gonna be the stag patronus from harry potter. so gonna do this in blue and sliver tones but so glad i found this!!!

Rachel -Love it Madison! I’d love to see pictures.

Alysha -Can i just ask how on earth you attached the real antlers to her head!? I’m being a deer this year and my boyfriend is being a hunter. I love this makeup tutorial and also have some real antlers just can’t figure out how to keep them on! Thanks 🙂

Rachel -Oh sure! So the set that we obtained still had a piece of the skull attached. I bought a really wide headband that matched her hair. Then I hot glued on two pieces of long ribbon to the tips of the headband. Those secured the headband down under her hairline. I also glued two more pieces of ribbon to the headband right about above her ears. These tied around the back of her head so that the antlers wouldn’t fall off. I tried to hide these ribbons under her hair, so we lifted a big portion of her hair up before we tied it. The antlers I attached with a combination of hot glue, super glue, and wire. They were very heavy and kept falling off of the headband, but I think ultimately it was a toooooooon of hot glue that held them in place. That and her not moving her head. Another way I’ve considered doing this would be to drill into the antler from the underside of the headband. Plus the ribbons. These particular antlers weren’t mine to mess with, but I’d try that if I had a pair of my own. Good luck! I’d love to see photos of you and your boyfriend!

Alysha -Thank you so much, very helpful. I’m not sure I’ll be able to pull off the big antlers when we go out.. I feel like with me moving around a lot it may not work aha. I have a headband with some ears and small antlers which I may just end up using for the night. Still love this idea for photos though! And will definitely be doing this makeup. I will definitely try and post pictures! Thank you again 🙂

jen-Thanks so much for the tutorial!! I just found the shoot pictures from last year from pinterest and absolutely love them!! I am totally going to dress up like this for halloween this year!

Rachel -Thank you Jen! It’s so fun. I’d really love to see pictures!

Alex E. -This is brilliant! Exactly what I needed, and better than a youtube tutorial, to be honest.
Love it : )

chloé beaudin -Where did you bought your ears ??

Rachel -Hi Chloe. They antlers and ears were a great thrift store find. It’s a little embarassing, but I think they were from a kid’s meal at Burger King!

I’m ending my radio silence today…or should I say blog silence? The past two months have been hard for me personally and I’ve felt very unmotivated, uninspired, and unwilling to get out of my funk. But, as the leaves are slowly changing up here in Portland, I’m ready for a change too. Mostly a change in my heart. And fortunately enough for me, Fawn & Feather is an expression of my heart. So bring on the change! One thing that I’m hoping to shift is how often I post things. I’m not doing shoots every day or week, so I often don’t feel like I’ve got much to share. As an exercise in staying motivated and inspired, I hope to simply share the creative endeavors I’m up to in the hopes that you’re imagination will take off and blossom into something wonderfully imaginative. At the end of this month, I’ll be sharing more about some of the bigger changes that I’m hoping for. Until then….these are the things that have been getting me out of bed every day. Get out and do something this weekend!